INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[pginsber]

I jinxed myself talking about my nipple waterer not freezing. I went out the check the girls this afternoon and they loudly complained about their H2O service.
I had to move the heating cable so that it touches the nipples. It was thawed in 2 minutes. Much better.

 

[Mother2Hens]

I've never heard of a Salamander Heater, but if there's any sort of smell or fumes from them, my gut would be no. Birds are very sensitive to fumes. At the very least, make sure there's LOTS of ventilation. Are you sure your alpacas will need the extra heat?
If I posted anything, it was that you should make sure to have plenty of ventilation in your coop to avoid frostbite. Most cases of frostbite are caused by excess humidity freezing on their combs. Ventilation should be above the birds, of course, and definitely not blowing against them in these conditions.
Just as an additional note to this, internal laying is not the same as egg binding! I see that mistake made frequently.

Egg binding is when a fully-formed egg gets stuck somewhere along the oviduct and blocks the hen up. This can sometimes be helped along with a warm bath to relax the muscles. This is usually caused by an overly large egg. If the hen passes the egg, she can go on to lay normally as long as she doesn't have any more big eggs.

Internal laying is when eggs do not form fully and instead either drop into the abdomen or sit in the oviduct, as described above. This usually cannot be helped and leads to peritonitis and a lot of discomfort.

I have had four or five hens--one production Rhodie and several red sexlinks--come down with this. It's unfortunately very common in production breeds from hatcheries, specifically the ones that lay huge numbers of eggs in their lifetimes like sexlinks, white Leghorns, production reds, etc. The best you can do is try to make them comfortable. I have heard of people emptying the abdomen and treating with antibiotics, but I personally feel this just prolongs their suffering. By the time my birds reached the 'penguin-walk' phase of internal laying, I have put them out of their misery. That's my personal feeling on the condition, though.

Update on Jersey and Egg Peritonitis

Pipd, Leahs Mom, and everyone who has been advising/thinking of my Black Jersey Giant~ Thank you! Update ~ I can't get Jersey in for an appointment until 3:30 tomorrow. I've brought her in to spend her last 24 hours inside with us. My husband is getting aspirin on the way home. It's hard to say when a hen is in pain, but I'm sure she is more than I know. She eats and drinks and acts okay although she definitely has classic symptoms of the disease. I'm intellectually understanding that I will have her put to sleep, but emotionally it hasn't hit yet. I realize that she's probably older than I was told, and she's had egg/reproductive tract issues in the past. Of course I feel guilty about not looking through my health book earlier; I'm so quick to do it for others, but I'm sure I was in denial that anything serious was wrong. I figured since she isn't a layer, and hasn't laid any weird eggs in over a year that she wouldn't have any egg-related issues. So, I hadn't looked at the sections on Egg Binding and/or Egg Peritonitis. The section on Egg Peritonitis led to a section about E. coli since EP can involve a strain of E. coli causing infection (It wasn't clear if E. coli is always present in EP or it can be present). Anyway, the general E. coli info is interesting (Egg Peritonitis is referred to on the second page), and I also included the recipe in the chart for sanitizing water:

 

[Kiniska]

Wrong pic at top this is what I meant to send

Ah, happy kitties.

 

[Kiniska]

Had to go pick up an Rx so I thought I'd drop by the grocery since I was out and get the girls some bread as a treat.
Here's the bread aisle:

Here's the OJ:

And who knew Ramen noodles are a staple?

That is crazy. Guess people really don't know how to cook. I have eggs, lots of eggs, and flour. Give me any heat source and I can whip up some flat bread.

 

[Kiniska]

So, even though it is -2 F with a wind chill of -20 and they have been locked in the half dark barn all day my girls when on a laying spree. Got 8 eggs from 9 hens. Maybe they were bored. That or it was all the extra treats and unlimited feed they got today. These English Orps are so backwards.

 

[racinchickins]

So, even though it is -2 F with a wind chill of -20 and they have been locked in the half dark barn all day my girls when on a laying spree. Got 8 eggs from 9 hens. Maybe they were bored. That or it was all the extra treats and unlimited feed they got today. These English Orps are so backwards.

I got 6 today and 6 yesterday. It has been several months since I got six eggs in a day. I'm putting it down to increasing daylight, since it surely can't be the weather. I've been checking every two hours to keep from getting frozen eggs. Unfortunately will have to be back to work tomorrow and won't be able to do that.

 

[Leahs Mom]

M2H -

Thinking about you..hope you find that it isn't what we think it is.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
Dh ended up staying home today and has also been checking every 2-3 hours. We got 5 eggs from 6 laying birds, two were duck eggs. Hardly anything stops those ducks. If they could just lay cleaner eggs I would be liking them so much more. The rest of our chickens are either boys or too young to lay. I have one mixed mutt that looks like a hen but no eggs yet so I'm going with still too young at 28 weeks. That what I get for mixing a heritage rooster with a production red.

 

[goatluver20]

Finger froze to latch on chicken coop. Be careful everybody!

 

[goatluver20]

My 3 chickens have laid 3 eggs each day for 2 days. Have 23 eggs in my fridge lol